Dynamical equation
The CSL dynamical equation for the wave function is stochastic and non-linear:
Here
is the Hamiltonian describing the quantum mechanical dynamics,
is a reference mass taken equal to that of a nucleon,
, and the noise field
has zero average and correlation equal to
where
denotes the stochastic average over the noise. Finally, we write
where
is the mass density operator, which reads
where
and
are, respectively, the second quantized creation and annihilation operators of a particle of type
with spin
at the point
of mass
. The use of these operators satisfies the conservation of the symmetry properties of identical particles. Moreover, the mass proportionality implements automatically the amplification mechanism. The choice of the form of
ensures the collapse in the position basis.
The action of the CSL model is quantified by the values of the two phenomenological parameters
and
. Originally, the Ghirardi-Rimini-Weber model [4] proposed
s
at
m, while later Adler considered larger values: [5]
s
for
m, and
s
for
m. Eventually, these values have to be bounded by experiments.
From the dynamics of the wave function one can obtain the corresponding master equation for the statistical operator
:
Once the master equation is represented in the position basis, it becomes clear that its direct action is to diagonalize the density matrix in position. For a single point-like particle of mass
, it reads
where the off-diagonal terms, which have
, decay exponentially. Conversely, the diagonal terms, characterized by
, are preserved. For a composite system, the single-particle collapse rate
should be replaced with that of the composite system
where
is the Fourier transform of the mass density of the system.
Experimental tests
Contrary to most other proposed solutions of the measurement problem, collapse models are experimentally testable. Experiments testing the CSL model can be divided in two classes: interferometric and non-interferometric experiments, which respectively probe direct and indirect effects of the collapse mechanism.
Interferometric experiments
Interferometric experiments can detect the direct action of the collapse, which is to localize the wavefunction in space. They include all experiments where a superposition is generated and, after some time, its interference pattern is probed. The action of CSL is a reduction of the interference contrast, which is quantified by the reduction of the off-diagonal terms of the statistical operator [6]
where
denotes the statistical operator described by quantum mechanics, and we define
Experiments testing such a reduction of the interference contrast are carried out with cold-atoms, [7] molecules [6] [8] [9] [10] , entangled diamonds [11] [12] and mechanical oscillators [13] .
Similarly, one can also quantify the minimum collapse strength to solve the measurement problem at the macroscopic level. Specifically, an estimate [6] can be obtained by requiring that a superposition of a single-layered graphene disk of radius
m collapses in less than
s.
Non-interferometric experiments
Non-interferometric experiments consist in CSL tests, which are not based on the preparation of a superposition. They exploit an indirect effect of the collapse, which consists in a Brownian motion induced by the interaction with the collapse noise. The effect of this noise amounts to an effective stochastic force acting on the system, and several experiments can be designed to quantify such a force. They include: [14]
- Radiation emission from charged particles. If a particle is electrically charged, the action of the coupling with the collapse noise will induce the emission of radiation. This result is in net contrast with the predictions of quantum mechanics, where no radiation is expected from a free particle. The predicted CSL-induced emission rate at frequency
for a particle of charge
is given by: [15] [16] [17] [18]
where
is the vacuum dielectric constant and
is the light speed. This prediction of CSL can be tested [19] [20] [21] [22] by analyzing the X-ray emission spectrum from a bulk Germanium test mass.
- Heating in bulk materials. A prediction of CSL is the increase of the total energy of a system. For example, the total energy
of a free particle of mass
in three dimensions grows linearly in time according to [3]
where
is the initial energy of the system. This increase is effectively small; for example, the temperature of a hydrogen atom increases by
K per year considering the values
s
and
m. Although small, such an energy increase can be tested by monitoring cold atoms. [23] [24] and bulk materials, as Bravais lattices, [25] low temperature experiments, [26] neutron stars [27] [28] and planets [27]
- Diffusive effects. Another prediction of the CSL model is the increase of the spread in position of center-of-mass of a system. For a free particle, the position spread in one dimension reads [29]
where
is the free quantum mechanical spread and
is the CSL diffusion constant, defined as [30] [31] [32]
where the motion is assumed to occur along the
axis;
is the Fourier transform of the mass density
. In experiments, such an increase is limited by the dissipation rate
. Assuming that the experiment is performed at temperature
, a particle of mass
, harmonically trapped at frequency
, at equilibrium reaches a spread in position given by [33] [34]
where
is the Boltzmann constant. Several experiments can test such a spread. They range from cold atom free expansion, [23] [24] nano-cantilevers cooled to millikelvin temperatures, [33] [35] [36] [37] gravitational wave detectors, [38] [39] levitated optomechanics, [34] [40] [41] [42] torsion pendula. [43]